Apocalypse: System of lotteries

At night, a person who had just learned some survival skills was wearing an expensive-looking alligator skin jacket, carrying an axe, and smashing cars and concrete in the ruins of the city.

That night, the quality of sleep in the North District of Zone 109 sharply declined. People crawled out of their shelter beds and stood on high ground, wondering who was working so hard at such a late hour. They did not know that the person was Ming, who possessed a title of diligent worker day and night.

Ming felt that he had become more diligent, and he had not even realized it. Perhaps this was just part of personal growth. Through this process, he found that his ability to collect materials had certain limitations. Originally, he had planned to collect cars one by one and store them in the warehouse, and then refine the steel ingots using his forging skills. However, he found that the weight of the materials he could collect was equivalent to his strength attribute point, which was shown in the personal panel of the third chapter.

So, he could only smash cars with a berserk axe and smash the steel bars in concrete buildings with the axe's back. Through experimentation, he found that dismantling cars were still more labor-saving and cost-effective. The concrete wasn't good.

He dismantled and refined at the same time. He roughly calculated that 100 pounds of scrap metal could be refined into 50 pounds of steel ingots. How could anyone know this data if they were not diligent?

In order not to disturb the peace, he tried to keep a low profile when dismantling cars. He couldn't quite understand why everyone wasn't as diligent as he was in this post-apocalyptic era. Why would anyone have time to sleep? Those people had no sense of crisis?

People who were awakened by the diligent person in the ruins of the North District of Zone 109 began to wonder who he was.

"I'm going to teach him a lesson!"

"Forget it, that guy is obviously learning the life skill of metal casting."

"Well, forget it then. Anyone who can spend 5,000 gold coins on a life skill must be a big shot."

"Hey, the stronger someone's ability is, the harder they work, right?"

"Yes! Why don't we collect scrap metal and sell it to those who have learned life skills and lack materials?"

The three individuals stood up simultaneously, picked up their tools, and headed out.

Ming took a break from dismantling cars in the ruins and sipped some water. Covered in dust from his hard work, he walked to a nearby pond to wash his face. To his surprise, there wasn't a single fish in the pond, presumably taken by the people in the zone. Henceforth, he could only look for materials and supplies in instances and zone maps.

He opened the chat channel to check for any messages about the zone map.

"I just returned from the zone map, and I was teleported to a small hill. All I can say is that the wilderness is truly dangerous. I witnessed someone getting torn to shreds and using the town portal scroll immediately. Oh, by the way, you may come across people from other zones."

"I was teleported to a forest. When I encountered a giant snake, I chose to use the teleportation scroll. The wilderness is not suitable for people to stay in."

"Listen to you guys, I'm hesitant about going there tomorrow during the day."

Ming checked the map records and realized that all guy's entries into the random map were in the wilderness. He also saw that many people were discussing the disappearance of the fog. Some believed that after the fog dissipated, it would be safe to venture into the wilderness. Others speculated that the disappearance of the fog could indicate the emergence of genuine peril. However, these were mere speculations as nobody knew for sure what was happening.

As he continued to dismantle cars with his berserk axe, he noticed that the sky was getting lighter.

Sniff sniff~

It was David, with his sand scent.

He raised his axe and continued dismantling cars as David looked on.

David thought to himself, "Has this guy changed his profession? Is he no longer drilling into the sewers instead of dismantling cars?"

"Good morning," they greeted each other.

"Have you learned the life skill of metal casting?" asked David.

"Yeah."

"No wonder you're not going into the sewers anymore. But even if you wanted to, there might not be any left to explore," said David as he leaned against a nearby object and observed Ming dismantling cars and refining materials.

"What's the matter?" asked Ming

"There are too many people in the zone. Some people don't want or are afraid to enter personal instances and zone maps, so they formed numerous teams to search for the remaining zombies and mutant animals in the zone. They've killed almost all of them," said David. He picked up a steel bar and tossed it to Ming. "I think you should dismantle faster because those people are also starting to prepare to collect scrap metal."

"Thanks."

Ming caught the steel bar and stored it in the warehouse, hoping that those guys wouldn't take the earthworm corpses away.

"And they collected the mutant bodies, saying they would be stored as meat reserves in the future. They even left no earthworms behind," said David.

"..."

"Oh no, my earthworm..." Ming sighed. But he still had a farm, so that didn't matter. As he swung his axe to break open a car, he asked, "Aren't you gonna collect this scrap metal?"

"I don't need it," replied David, shaking his head. He was already exhausted from refining sand every day and had no energy to do this.

He then looked at the sky where red clouds were appearing and asked, "Have you ever thought about what's beyond the fog?"

"Not yet. Based on the fact that so many masters killed bosses yesterday, the fog won't last long before it dissipates," replied Ming.

He stood up, stretched his muscles, and noticed that many people had started using various tools to dismantle cars in the ruins.

How do these guys become more diligent?

David looked around and said, "I told you. These people have started competing with you for the job. Believe it or not, in half a day, we won't be able to find any scrap metal on the ground in our zone."

"..." Ming looked at the crowds moving around him and believed it.

"By the way, I'm going to participate in Ming's Chainsaw Maniac copy, do you want to come with me?" asked David as he got up and prepared to leave.

"You go first. I'll join you later," replied Ming.

"Okay."

Clang!

As soon as David turned around and walked away, he heard the sound of Ming dismantling another car. He smiled and shook his head, wondering how this seemingly wealthy guy could care so much about scrap metal. Perhaps frugality is the key to wealth.

"These guys..." Ming looked up and noticed that more people had joined in dismantling cars. At this rate, his wish to dismantle all the scrap metal in the zone would be impossible. After dismantling another car, he headed towards the central square of the zone. Following last night's plan, he was going to participate in the Arthur's Desert Fury experience instance in the Special Operations Zone.

Not only was the difficulty low, but he could also receive some rewards. As he walked, he arrived at the central square, where dozens of people had already gathered. Everyone was queueing up in front of two light screens, which read:

[Chainsaw Maniac copy: Five-star winner Ming]

[Desert Fury Instance: Five-star winner Arthur in the Special Operations Zone ]

Below the text on the screen, there was a "Enter" prompt cursor with a hand-shaped circle beneath it.

Ming chose to join the Desert Fury team, located at the back of the queue and did not see David. He guessed that David had already entered the experiential instance.

People in the queue were conversing with each other.

"Have you decided which instance to enter?"

"Definitely Ming's instance. His instance boss is a three-star king level. I want to see how powerful a king-level boss is. I've never encountered one before."

"But my strength isn't that strong."

"The difficulty has been reduced, and many people have claimed that it's quite easy!"